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Communication Behavior among Dairy Farmers of Sta. Maria, Bulacan
Thesis Abstract:
The study sought to find out the communication behavior of dairy farmers in Sta. Maria Dairy Plant (SMDP) in Bulacan, Philippines. Specifically, it aimed to determine the availability and use of communication media. and to identify the communication practices of dairy farmers in order to design a communication plan that will support the cow dispersal program, increase milk production, and increase farmers' income.
Simple random sampling was used to obtain 130 dairy farmerrespondents. Data were gathered through interviews using a questionnaire. Personal inte,rviews with SMDP officials and staff of the Dairy Development Division (ODD) were also done.
All of the respondents were members of the Sta. Maria Dairy Farmers' Association (SMDFA) and were participants in the cow dispersal program of the SMDP. The respondents were male, married with five children, and 48 years old on the average.
The respondents' educational background ranged from car til/a to college graduate. The majority of them had more than one year of experience in dairy farming and belonged to either backyard dairy farmers' group or smallholder farmers.
More than one-half of the respondents received an average monthly income of P1,357.45, and 90 percent got their income from sources other than milking cow.
Radio and television were the media most available to them followed by newspapers, comics, leaflets, and magazines.
The majority of the respondents listened regularly to radio, especially to news, live lihood, pleasure and music, religious, educational, and cultural or drama programs. Few respondents seldom listened to dairy farming programs because they were unaware or did not know which stations broadcast such programs. The majority preferred to listen in the morning. All of the respondents watched television, with most of them watching in the evening.
Sixty-eight percent were readers but only 65 percent owned reading materials. Non-owners borrowed reading materials from neighbors, relatives, and friends. The materials read by the respondents were newspapers, magazines, comics, and leaflets.
The communication media the respondents preferred and perceived as credible were interpersonal communication followed by television, radio, leaflets, magazines,' and newspapers.
Results of the chi-square test showed that there was no relationship between respondents' sociodemographic variables and the frequency and time of listening to radio. However, educational attainment and farm experience were significantly related to the farmers' amount of time devoted to watching television. Educational attainment, farm size, farm experience, and income were significantly related with reading leaflets on dairy farming. Only educational attainment and farm experience were significantly related to reading magazines on dairy farming. Moreover, only educational attainment was significantly related to reading newspapers. In terms of communication media preferences, there was no relationship between respondents' sociodemographic variables and type of communication media used. Farm size was significantly related to interpersonal communication.
